News

The state of Hawaii has enacted House Bill 320, a statute that permits a licensed real estate broker or real estate salesperson to prepare broker price opinions (BPOs) and charge a fee for their service. Under previous legislation, if a real estate licensee charged a fee for a BPO other than the commission involved in the normal sale of a property, then the licensee was in violation of the state's legal code for real estate appraisals. The change, which took effect in July, came about through a unified effort by a number of industry groups, and it's been a long time coming.

Fannie Mae expects overall economic growth to decline, taking the housing market with it on its downward trend. The company bases these predictions on declining business and consumer confidence in addition to weak job growth. The GSE said in the August edition of its regular economic and mortgage market analysis report that ""recovery has clearly lost momentum."" Macro economic factors are driving the mindset of consumers, according to Fannie Mae, and housing is being impacted.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have both suspended PMI Mortgage Insurance and its affiliates PMI Insurance Co. and PMI Mortgage Assurance Co. as approved mortgage insurers. Mortgages insured by any of the three PMI units with note dates before May 19, 2011, or after September 16, 2011, will no longer be purchased or securitized by either of the GSEs. To allow lenders and sellers to clear their pipelines, PMI-insured mortgages with note dates that fall in between that time will continue to still be accepted by the mortgage financiers.

AOL Inc. has launched a new real estate search on AOL Real Estate that is powered by Move, Inc. The new search engine returns homes for sale, foreclosures, new homes, off-market, and recently sold properties provided to AOL through Move's ListHub syndication network. The AOL Real Estate search now delivers new tools that enable users to refine their search by multiple criteria including open houses, new listings, and price reductions. It also connects potential buyers directly to real estate agents.

The ratings agency DBRS made principal reductions the focus of a research note released Monday. The firm's analysts stressed that as a modification technique, debt forgiveness has long been regarded as controversial in the mortgage industry due to its moral hazard risk and the potential impact it could have on the performance of securitized mortgages. As such, it's been utilized on a very limited basis. Based on first-quarter data, DBRS found that principal reduction modifications accounted for 2.80 percent of the total mods performed.

In the month of June, U.S. commercial real estate prices rose 0.9 percent, according to the latest Moody's/REAL Commercial Property Price Indices released Monday. June is the second consecutive month of price gains. The ratings agency says the increase represents a firming up of the market bottom, but turmoil in the capital markets and a drop-off in secondary market lending may delay realization of any significant near-term pricing gains. Sales of distressed properties accounted for 29 percent of June's volume.

New York, Nevada, Massachusetts, and Delaware attorneys general continue to voice opposition to a blanket settlement with the nation's top servicers, but HUD and the Justice Department are taking steps to persuade at least one of them to comply. Officials from both agencies are specifically asking New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to abandon his objections and approve the settlement. He's reportedly holding out to ensure he can pursue his own legal actions related to the securitization side of the business.

This year's failed-bank tally has hit 68 with the closings of four more FDIC-insured lenders. The latest casualties can be found in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, and Pennsylvania, and collectively are expected to cost the FDIC an estimated $374.8 million. Lydian Private Bank, based out of Palm Beach, Florida, was the largest of the seizures in this latest round. It operated five branches, with $1.24 billion in deposits and $1.70 billion in assets.

The Arizona Department of Insurance has placed two subsidiaries of PMI Group, Inc. -- PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. (MIC) and PMI Insurance Co. (PIC) -- under the department's supervision and ordered them to cease issuing new mortgage insurance. PMI alerted investors of the possibility of such actions earlier this month. PMI says further measures by the regulator could result in up to $735 million of the parent company's outstanding debt coming due, obligations which the PMI Group would be unable to pay.

Aklero Risk Analytics Inc., which provides loan quality and risk mitigation solutions to the mortgage lending industry, has hired John Alarcon as chief financial officer. In this role, Alarcon oversees financial operations, planning, and human resources at Aklero. He brings more than 16 years of senior executive experience to the firm and has held positions in management, finance, and operations at both private and public software, consulting, and financial services companies.